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Transit and power bills head Scarborough-Rouge River byelection issues

It’s déjà vu all over again for voters in Scarborough-Rouge River, where campaign signs are being recycled aplenty in the hotly contested Sept. 1 byelection.

New Democrat candidate and school trustee Neethan Shan is back for a third attempt since 2011 in a rematch of the 2014 provincial election against veteran city councillor Raymond Cho, a Progressive Conservative.

Both lost to Liberal Bas Balkissoon, who resigned abruptly without explanation in March after 11 years as MPP. Picking up the Liberal banner is first-time candidate Piragal Thiru, a transportation planner for York Region.

“This is a battleground,” Thiru says as he runs door to door in Morningside Heights, a newer subdivision where his NDP rival happens to live.

Long public transit times to downtown and high electricity bills are big issues with voters, along with a push for better local health care and concerns about expensive car insurance rates in Scarborough.

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Many lawns sport signs for the major parties, often two and occasionally three different ones.

First-time candidate Piragal Thiru, a transportation planner, hopes to keep Scarborough-Rouge River in Liberal hands in the Sept. 1 byelection, where he faces city councillor Raymond Cho for the PC's and New Democrat school trustee Neethan Shan. (Andrew Francis Wallace)

It makes for a forest of political diversity that reflects the riding’s ethnic variety, with more than 90 per cent of residents from visible minorities.

Aijaz Syed, who has Shan and Cho signs in his front yard, says they don’t necessarily signify support.

“They came and I talked to them and they asked if they could put up a sign,” he tells the Star after a quick front-porch chat with Thiru, who managed John Tory’s successful 2014 mayoral campaign in the area.

“Whatever we decide on the day of the election is the way we decide. I’m not 100 per cent decided yet.”

Advance polls opened Saturday.

With just under two years until the next provincial election, the byelection is a test of strength for the Liberal government’s fortress Toronto, where it holds all but two seats that are in NDP hands.

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It’s also a barometer for new Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, who has made determined efforts to reach out to cultural communities that are well represented in Scarborough-Rouge River.

Although Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government trailed the PCs by 13 points in a Forum Research poll this week and her own popularity ranks below both NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Brown, the Liberals are counting on their long history of representing the area and the popularity of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help carry the riding.

Opponents, however, fan flames of discontent with a government they accuse of treating Scarborough-Rouge River like a poor cousin.

“They claim to be champions of transit, but a lot of people are frustrated,” Shan says in his bustling campaign office at Sheppard Ave. and McCowan Rd., where municipal plans once called for a subway station and east-west light rail transit line. Council recently settled on a one-stop subway extension to Scarborough Town Centre with provincial aid.

He wants the proposed extension to the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line to “come a little further north” than the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, which is south of the riding that runs north of Highway 401 between Midland Ave. and the Pickering town line.

“Access to rapid transit is critical for many communities, both for the time they need to spend with their families . . . but also to have meaningful employment opportunities,” adds Shan, who lost to Cho in the 2010 and 2014 city council elections.

Veteran PC city councillor Raymond Cho, 79, says the Liberal government has been taking the riding of Scarborough-Rouge River for granted. (Andrew Francis Wallace)

From Morningside Heights in the northeastern part of the riding, getting downtown can take two hours with transfers from bus to bus and the Scarborough Rapid Transit line to the subway.

“Transit’s the biggest thing. We feel very disconnected from the city,” says Nabila Sidat, an elementary school teacher who lives near Sheppard and Markham Rd.

“A lot of promises have been made but nothing seems to materialize.”

Despite being at the decision-making table for 25 years on Metro and city council representing a ward that constitutes about half the riding, Cho echoes that sentiment and raises concerns about rising provincial debt and a spate of Liberal scandals.

“So many people are fed up. The Liberal government, they just take this riding for granted, they’ve been neglecting Scarborough,” says Cho, 79, who is more than double the age of his main opponents.

Shan and Thiru are both 37, came to Toronto as refugees from of Sri Lanka as children and frequently break into their native Tamil on doorsteps.

“Age is only a number,” adds the Korean-born Cho, a former social worker campaigning at the Malvern Town Centre mall in running shoes and a dark suit after visiting a nearby senior’s building.

“City politics and provincial politics should be connected and I am a good bridge man,” he continues.

With the Liberal government embarked on a 12-year, $160 billion transit improvement and road infrastructure program, Thiru, who has seen the benefits of rapid transit bus lanes while working in York Region, says “I want to see commute times reduced.

“We have buses but they’re not the fastest solution. We need to come up with good solid rapid transit infrastructure,” he adds.

“People understand it’s better to do those things in government than in opposition.”

He points to free university tuition for children from families with incomes below $160,000 and full-day kindergarten, which saves parents thousands on daycare, as Liberal programs that are beneficial to the riding.

Thiru and Cho both live outside the riding boundaries, although the Liberal candidate says he and his wife will resume their house hunt in Scarborough-Rouge River after the vote.

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